Close Menu
The Baylor Lariat
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    Trending
    • Students react to emergency alert following campus lockdown
    • Baylor shelter-in-place lifted following police pursuit of robbery suspects
    • Baylor graduate charged after killing cats with pellet gun, hanging bodies over utility lines
    • Baylor Football’s Alex Foster dies at 18
    • Board of Regents confirms budget, renovations, new leadership in May meeting
    • How facilities responds to storms, flooding in campus buildings
    • Welcome Week leaders now paid in hopes of increasing numbers
    • 5 Baylor sports storylines to look forward to in 2025-26
    • About us
      • Spring 2025 Staff Page
      • Copyright Information
    • Contact
      • Contact Information
      • Letters to the Editor
      • Subscribe to The Morning Buzz
      • Department of Student Media
    • Employment
    • PDF Archives
    • RSS Feeds
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    The Baylor LariatThe Baylor Lariat
    Subscribe to the Morning Buzz
    Sunday, July 6
    • News
      • State and National News
        • State
        • National
      • Politics
        • 2025 Inauguration Page
        • Election Page
      • Homecoming Page
      • Baylor News
      • Waco Updates
      • Campus and Waco Crime
    • Arts & Life
      • Wedding Edition 2025
      • What to Do in Waco
      • Campus Culture
      • Indy and Belle
      • Sing 2025
      • Leisure and Travel
        • Leisure
        • Travel
          • Baylor in Ireland
      • Student Spotlight
      • Local Scene
        • Small Businesses
        • Social Media
      • Arts and Entertainment
        • Art
        • Fashion
        • Food
        • Literature
        • Music
        • Film and Television
    • Opinion
      • Editorials
      • Points of View
      • Lariat Letters
    • Sports
      • March Madness 2025
      • Football
      • Basketball
        • Men’s Basketball
        • Women’s Basketball
      • Soccer
      • Baseball
      • Softball
      • Volleyball
      • Equestrian
      • Cross Country and Track & Field
      • Acrobatics & Tumbling
      • Tennis
      • Golf
      • Pro Sports
      • Sports Takes
      • Club Sports
    • Lariat TV News
    • Multimedia
      • Video Features
      • Podcasts
        • Don’t Feed the Bears
      • Slideshows
    • Advertising
    The Baylor Lariat
    Home»News»National

    Postal Service going under, begs congressional action

    By September 7, 2011 National No Comments3 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    WASHINGTON — Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe warned that the Postal Service is on “the brink of default” as he battles to keep his agency solvent.

    Without legislation by Sept. 30, the agency “will default on a mandated $5.5 billion payment to the Treasury,” Donahoe said.

    And with no congressional action, a year from now, next August or September, the post office could run out of money to pay salaries and contractors, hampering its ability to operate, Donahoe said.

    Donahoe noted that the post office supports a $1.1 trillion mailing industry employing more than 8 million people in direct mail, periodicals, catalogs, financial services and other businesses.

    Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said several proposals have been put forward to improve postal operations and said that Congress needs to work on areas where agreement can be found. Both Carper and Collins have introduced bills to reform postal operations, and measures have also been introduced in the House.

    Donahoe and his predecessor John Potter have warned for months that without changes in the law governing postal operations the Postal Service will be unable to make advance payments to cover future retiree medical benefits.

    Staggered by the economic downturn and the massive shift from first-class mail to email, the post office lost more than $8 billion last year and is facing losses at least that large this year, despite having cut 110,000 jobs over the last four years and making other changes, including closing smaller, local post offices.

    The Postal Service, which does not receive tax money for its operations, is not seeking federal funds.

    Instead, postal officials want changes in the way they operate, including relief from the requirement that it prefund medical costs. No other federal agency has to prefund retiree health benefits, but because of the way the federal budget is organized the money counts as income to the government, so eliminating it would make the federal deficit appear larger.

    When Congress restructured postal operations in 2006 it ordered the agency to establish a separate fund to begin covering those benefits, instead of using money for the post office’s general fund, starting in 2017, and to make annual advance payments to that account. The payment due Sept. 30 would be $5.5 billion.

    Also, the post office wants to reduce mail delivery to five days-a-week; close 3,700 offices, further cut the workforce by up to 220,000; and to withdraw from federal retirement systems and set up its own. It also seeks the return of $6.9 billion it overpaid into retirement funds.

    Contracts with its employee unions currently strictly limit layoffs and closing post offices riles local communities who complain to their members of Congress.

    Tom Carper United States Postal Service

    Keep Reading

    Prices could rise throughout 2025 due to tariffs, reciprocal actions

    Endangered Species Act could be facing extinction

    Attacks on judiciary threaten rule of law, undermine democracy

    ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs could make cars more expensive

    Charged debate around Musk, Tesla culminates in vandalism, recalls

    Public libraries, museums could face government funding cuts

    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Recent Posts
    • Students react to emergency alert following campus lockdown June 27, 2025
    • Baylor shelter-in-place lifted following police pursuit of robbery suspects June 26, 2025
    About

    The award-winning student newspaper of Baylor University since 1900.

    Articles, photos, and other works by staff of The Baylor Lariat are Copyright © Baylor® University. All rights reserved.

    Subscribe to the Morning Buzz

    Get the latest Lariat News by just Clicking Subscribe!

    Follow the Live Coverage
    Tweets by @bulariat

    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    • Featured
    • News
    • Sports
    • Opinion
    • Arts and Life
    © 2025 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.